At 14:53 15.10.98 -0700, Mark wrote:
>GNU stuff is usually very easy to port to MPE, once you get the configure
>script working properly.  Lars Appel has a configure script generator you can
>use (the location escapes me, unfortunately), ...

I have to second Mark's comments and can only encourage everybody to not be
shy and give each and every potential Posix port a fearless try. It far less
difficult than most people seem to still believe. Just keep in mind that I
was able to get a prototype of Samba running on MPE/iX withOUT being (a) some
kind of C expert (can read code much better than write), and (b) some kind of
TCP/IP networking guru and (c) some kind of NetBIOS/PC networking aware.

Why was it possible? Because help is always around the corner: HP3000-L.

BTW, the GNU autoconf tool that Mark mentioned (for re-generating the GNU
configure script from configure.in with MPE-specific adjustments) is at...

  http://www.editcorp.com/personal/lars_appel/

>The fork() function suffers from TERRIBLE performance.  Network server
>daemons that fork() a child to handle each incoming socket connection will be
>SLOW.  Servers that use a pre-forked child pool (like Apache) will offer much
>better performance.

Yes, but the fork() overhead on MPE mainly hits "short lived" server processes
like httpd or CGI children. With Samba for example, the fork()ed children live
as long as the respective client has a mapped network drive (read: keeps the
TCP connection open) and thus the overhead does not "hit" too frequently. Just
an example that your milage may vary!

Regards, Lars.